Tell Luke
by jadetarsier
Summary: Who would you call with your last goodbye? Takes place in a late New Republic era AU. Mostly Mara, some Callista, Luke, Dankin, Aves, Karrde, Odonnl.
1. Part 1

**Mara** should not have been surprised as she entered the dimly lit cantina. She'd gotten word of a job two days ago. Very lucrative, but extremely light on details. No who, or where, or how. Just a when: immediately. So after she'd agreed to hear out the offer, she should not have been surprised to see Talon Karrde, her former employer, sitting on the other side of the table.

"I trust you've been well?" he asked.

"Can't complain," Mara replied, taking a seat. "What's the job?"

"You never were one for small talk, were you?"

"I was under the impression the clock was ticking on this one."

"It is indeed, but your ship won't be ready for another hour." Karrde glanced at his chrono. "Make that fifty-seven minutes."

Mara had left her ship in a docking bay a few blocks away. It was fueled and ready to fly, which meant Karrde intended for her to use one of his ships for this mission. That, or he was retrofitting her ship in some way as they spoke. She resisted the urge to ask, knowing he would tell her what he wanted her to know when he wanted her to know it.

Karrde sighed, seeming uncharacteristically reluctant to continue. "I'm afraid I've made a mistake. I've sent an employee on a mission that proved to be far more dangerous than anticipated. I believe she's been captured. I would like for you to retrieve her."

Mara nodded. She'd rescued her fair share of kidnap victims; she didn't expect this would be too difficult. "Where is she?"

"Atzerri. We had a lead that there was a large quantity of sun crystals moving through one of its ports. So I sent someone to do a little sniffing around. Her last report was that though she thought she was close to the crystals, the local gang rivalries were heating up and she didn't feel safe." Karrde swirled his drink in his glass. "Dankin and Odonnl are fitting some magnetic plates to the hull of your ship so you'll blend in. I've already sent you her last known location and all the information on the locals she had gathered."

"Good," Mara said approvingly. Not that she expected anything less than optimal efficiency from Karrde. "I trust you remember how to transfer funds to my account?"

"Of course," Karrde replied. They had not discussed the amount Mara would be paid for her services, but Mara trusted Karrde to treat her fairly based on the outcome of the mission.

"Then I'm set," Mara said, rising. Mara paused, half-turned to leave, suddenly realizing Karrde had never mentioned the kidnap victim's name. Mara expected she knew the employee, at least by name and face. It wasn't that long since she'd left the company after all. But before she asked Karrde for the employee's name, Mara was struck by the thought that had she remained with the company, Mara would almost certainly have been the one sent on the ill-fated mission.

"Her name's Callista," Karrde said, answering Mara's still unasked question.

Mara whirled back towards Karrde, thinking this was an ill-conceived joke. Karrde was staring into his drink, his expression drawn and weary, exactly as she would expect if one of his employees was in grave danger as a result of following his orders. It was not the expression of a close acquaintance pulling a prank, or teasing Mara about her recent (and massively overblown by the Holonet) flirtations with Luke Skywalker. "You're serious?" Mara asked, although she already knew the answer.

"I don't joke Mara," Karrde rebuked. "Certainly not about something like this. I hired Callista shortly after you left. She's been a commendable employee and I don't want to lose her." Karrde looked up to meet Mara's eyes. "I trust this does not change our agreement?"

"Why would it?" Mara asked, a little too coolly. "I'm just surprised a former Jedi could get herself in such a mess." Mara left, breaking into a brisk jog upon exiting the cantina.


	2. Part 2

**Two** weeks later, Mara was deep in the wilderness of Azterri. Thus far, the rescue had not been going well. The good news was Callista was alive and free from her captors. Everything else was bad news. Mara was several kilometers of dense jungle from her ship and her speeder lay in ruins a few kilometers the opposite direction. Within that jungle were an untold number of booby-traps and gangsters lying in wait, not to mention predators of all shapes and sizes. Mara was hot, hungry, and exhausted from her efforts so far. But Mara could have handled all that easily. The trouble was Callista.

Callista was badly injured. One druglord had captured her, convinced she was a member of the rival gang attempting to spy on him. She was covered in cuts and bruises, but the injury of concern was a blaster shot to her right side. Dankin had advised Mara not to bring much bacta, because Callista was allergic to it. Not so conveniently, Callista was also immune to healing trances. Looking at her now, Mara wondered how Callista had survived so many years with limited medical options.

"Don't look at me like that," Callista objected. "Save your pity for after I'm gone."

"Sorry," Mara muttered, looking away. She figured most people would have said something encouraging to the injured woman, but Mara knew even if she could find the right words they would ring false from her lips. Chances were Callista would not make it off this planet. "Time to move," Mara said, crouching down beside Callista and helping her rise to her feet. Callista's chances may not be good, but Mara was not one to give up in the middle of a mission. Nor did Callista seem ready to quit.

"How much farther?" Callista asked. She tried to hide the desperation in her voice as she leaned into Mara, but Mara could hear it. Desperation, and pain.

"Not far," Mara replied, giving in for once to the notion of positive thinking. "We'll be there before you know it."

Callista didn't respond, so Mara turned her head to see the other woman's expression as she dragged herself along. Her eyes were a bit glazed, hopefully a sign of daydreaming and not shock.

* * *

**Finally** resting for the night, Callista looked a little better. Another layer of kolto and synthflesh over her wound and another round of painkillers had made a world of difference. Mara considered leaving Callista here and coming back for her with the ship. But there was a reason Mara had originally landed the ship so far away—one, the gangsters had anti-aircraft weapons in place; two, Mara had been hoping she would never be discovered. As far as she, knew, the gangsters had not yet discovered her. She had gone to the trouble of leaving a few clues that made it look like the rival gang had recaptured Callista. Between the reasons for not bringing the ship closer and the fact that Callista was in no condition to fend for herself in the wilderness, Mara knew she could not leave Callista behind.

"Is it true?" Callista asked from the darkness. Mara had thought she'd been asleep.

"Is what true?" Mara asked, though she suspected she knew. Somehow they had managed to avoid the subject of Skywalker up to this point. But Mara had known it would only be a matter of time before the inevitable topic came up.

"You and Luke," she replied simply.

"What's it to you?"

Though she couldn't see her, Mara had the sense that Callista shrugged. "Just curious."

"We've seen each other a few times. Nothing serious. Not that it's any of your business."

"Oh. Good."

_Good that I've been seeing Luke? Or good that it's not serious?_ Callista sounded very tired and Mara had trouble reading her tone. Mara had not been eager to begin the conversation and now that she heard Callista's breath becoming deep and even, she decided to let it go. Let Callista sleep now. Mara, if she decided that she needed to, could feel out Callista's feelings for Luke in the morning.


	3. Part 3

"**Mara**. Mara." The red-headed smuggler woke to a desperate murmuring of her name. As soon as she was awake, it was apparent to Mara that Callista had gotten worse during the night. Much, much worse. Her skin was ghostly pale in the light of the glow rod and she seemed barely conscious. Mara reached for the medkit and knelt close to Callista.

"Go, go, you have to go," Callista said faintly.

Mara pulled out an adrenaline shot, sure that it wouldn't do much to comfort Callista now but uncertain what else to do. "It's okay," Mara said. "It's not even dawn yet." Mara determined that she would have to carry Callista the rest of the way. If she did that she would need daylight, she couldn't very well stumble around in the dark with Callista in her arms.

"Mara." Callista's voice was barely a whisper. So much for the adrenaline kicking in. Mara adjusted the glow rod. There was no light in Callista's eyes and a surge of panic rolled through Mara as she realized that whatever Callista said now would likely be her last words.

"Tell Luke—"

That's when the world exploded.


	4. Part 4

**Not** the whole world, of course. The entire planet was not engulfed in flames. But to Mara it might as well have been. Later she would decide that it was a concussion grenade, likely part of the first volley of the all-out gang war. But at the time all she knew was that she was lifted, flew through the air. Landed, rolled. Rolled some more. Then crawled. And crawled. And crawled, and crawled some more. She didn't feel any pain. The broken leg, the twisted wrist, the bruised ribs. None of that mattered. It slowed her down, but even that she hardly noticed. Nor did she notice the explosions, the blaster fire, the vicious battle that had broken out around her. Her body continued to crawl, to seek safety, to survive.

Her mind was in different hell. Concussed, certainly. Delirious, most likely. But as her body moved steadfast in one direction, her mind wandered. She thought of Luke, she thought of Karrde, she even thought of the Emperor. But mostly she thought of Callista and her last two words: _Tell Luke._

_Tell Luke, tell Luke._

Callista was going to die anyway, how was it fair that she couldn't even finish that single sentence? _Tell Luke I love him. Tell Luke I'll miss him. Tell Luke I'll never forget him._ If Mara had woken up ten seconds earlier she might know how to finish the sentence. But she didn't, she never would. _Tell Luke we were meant to be together. Tell Luke I love him deeper than the ocean. _

_Tell Luke . . . I'm happy for him._

_Tell Luke._


	5. Part 5

**Mara** awakened with a sickly-sweet taste in her mouth. Judging by the strength of the taste, and the intensely unpleasant tingle in her fingers and toes, she estimated she had been in the bacta tank for nearly a week. _You're getting too old for this_, she mentally chided herself.

She tried to move her body, eager to work out the tingling sensations throughout her body, and was disturbed to discover she was restrained. Her eyes flew open and her body tensed, ready to fight whoever or whatever was trying to hold her down.

"Whoa, Mara it's okay," a familiar voice said. Mara stopped just long enough to focus on the speaker. She immediately recognized Aves, her former coworker. Her panic abated, Mara looked around the room. It was mostly white, with a few beeping machines—typical of a hospital room. Her restraint came from a series of wires attached to the ceiling and slung under her left leg and right arm in order to hold her limbs aloft. These mechanisms gave away that she was not in a standard hospital bed in a med center—they were welded and hammered in place, clearly attached with haste and little concern for appearance.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Aves said, apparently noticing her staring at the ceiling. "We kinda had to throw things together. We're running low on bacta, so the doctors recommended keeping your limbs stabilized while we wait for a refill." Mara nodded, determining that she was at the base on Chardaan. She'd only been at the Chardaan base a handful of times, but she recognized the curved architecture of the ceiling and the blue tint to the window.

"Do you remember what happened?" Aves asked.

"We're on Chardaan," Mara declared.

Aves blinked several times. "Yes, but how did you . . .? You must remember you were on Azterri, then."

Mara shook her head. No, she hadn't remembered Azterri. Why would she have been on that backwater rock?

_Fire_.

Mara remembered fire. Lots of it.

"Don't worry," Aves said quickly. "Don't even think about it. You're fine now, that's all that matters. The doctor said there may be some memory loss. It may be for the better anyway."

Mara scowled. She'd never had memory loss before, and she didn't intend to start now. Azterri. And fire. Once it clicked, it all came down on Mara at once. She remembered everything. The explosions, the blaster fire, dragging herself through the brush. And Callista. And her last words: _Tell Luke_.

Mara also remembered having made a decision somewhere amongst the chaos and flames. She would not, _could not_, continue her relationship with Luke. Luke was meant to be with Callista. Mara's own failures prevented that from happening. Therefore Mara could not possibly reap the benefits of Callista's death by pursing a relationship with Luke.

Mara was not saddened by this decision. She had never been certain about her feelings for Luke anyway. And it was the only rational decision, given the circumstances. Even if Luke would have chosen Mara over Callista, it didn't matter. Luke had never gotten that chance and there was no way to know what might have happened. Circumstances were what they were and the least Mara could do was stay away from the love of the woman she'd failed to save.


	6. Part 6

**Luke** was coming. Aves had informed her casually of this, only hours after she had sworn to cut off her relationship with the Jedi. Mara was annoyed, but knew it would be useless trying to dissuade Luke once he had made up his mind. She would just have to use the next few days to decide what to say to him.

* * *

**Mara** was half-asleep when Odonnl quietly entered the room later that night.

"How's Lucky?" Aves asked in a low voice.

Odonnl hesitated. "He's...distraught. But he'll be okay, eventually."

"Who's Lucky?" Mara asked.

Odonnl and Aves were startled that she was still awake, Mara could sense. "I'm sorry, it's nothing," Odonnl replied. "How are you feeling?"

Mara scowled, ignoring Odonnl's question as he'd ignored hers. "Who's Lucky?"

Hesitantly, Aves supplied, "That's what Callista called Dankin." Then, with forced cheerfulness, he added, "He used to beat her in the flight simulators all the time."

"Callista? Were they close?" Mara asked.

"…Yes," Odonnl replied.

"How close?" Mara demanded, a new thought dialing up her intensity.

"I don't know. They were . . . close," Odonnl offered.

Apparently Aves could tell Mara was not satisfied with that answer because he added, "Dankin's not one to kiss and tell. We were never quite sure where they stood. But they seemed to like each other. A lot. Why's it so important?"

Mara responded with a curt, "Please leave." She was aware she probably wasn't being fair to them, but she had to think this through. Alone. Aves and Odonnl hesitated, clearing wanting more explanation, but she had put just enough venom in her tone that they reluctantly left without argument.

Once they were gone, Mara took several deep breaths to focus her mind. What exactly had Callista said? What precisely had she heard? Was it possible her words weren't "Tell Luke" but rather "Tell Luck-" Callista had definitely been cut off mid-sentence, but could it have been mid-word? _Tell Lucky_.

_Tell Lucky I love him. Tell Lucky I'll miss him. Tell Lucky I couldn't live without him._

_Tell Lucky._

_Tell Luck-_


	7. Part 7

**By** the time Luke was due to arrive, Mara was mostly swayed that Callista's last words were for Dankin. Dankin regularly stopped in to visit and it was clear to Mara that he was devastated by Callista's death. In many ways, Mara hardly recognized the formerly happy-go-lucky pilot. He would try to smile, but never had Mara found his expression so false. He never asked directly about Callista, he never used her name, but his questions were subtly probing in that direction. _When did you reach the druglord's base? How long after that before the explosion that injured you? Did you have enough kolto in the medkit?_

It was difficult to answer the questions, because there were no words that would lessen his pain. She found it easy to lie in response to his indirect questions—_it only took me a couple days to reach the base; I hardly touched the kolto, there wasn't much need for it_. But as much as she wanted to, she couldn't just tell him point blank that Callista hadn't suffered, that her death had been instant and painless. So Mara didn't use Callista's name either, and eventually Dankin ran out of questions.

Mara mused that if Dankin cared that deeply for Callista, it was likely that she had cared equally for him. Mara was tempted to tell Dankin of Callista's last words, but she wasn't quite certain enough.

One night the two of them stayed up late into the night watching a holovid together. Dankin fell asleep in a chair and as dawn approached Mara had been taken by an intense need to shake him awake and demand to know what his relationship to Callista was. Were they lovers? Had she ever told him that she was in love with him? Had they intended to spend their lives together? Dankin would know better than anyone what Callista's feelings for him were. However, Mara's restraints had kept her from immediately grabbing him and pulling him awake. By the time the light of the sun crept in enough to wake Dankin, Mara had thought better of bombarding him with intimate questions. He may not know Callista's true feelings for him. She shouldn't aggravate that doubt. Nor could she put words in Callista's mouth; she could not assure Dankin his love was not unrequited when in truth she did not know.

But if Mara wasn't certain Callista's words were for Dankin, how could she be certain they weren't for Luke?

_Tell Lucky? Tell Luke? _

_Tell Lu-?_


	8. Part 8

**Mara's** hair was still damp from her last bacta treatment when she heard voices in the hallway.

"What's your business here?" Aves asked.

"I'm here to see Mara."

"And who are you?"

"Luke Skywalker—I believe it was you who invited me here."

"Oh. I guess I was expecting someone….taller."

"Can I see her, please?"

"Well…."

He was talking loudly enough that Mara figured Aves was trying to buy her some time to make sure she was ready to see Luke. Or perhaps he was being obnoxious just because he could. But whatever the reason, Mara was grateful for his delay. Not because she needed to prepare herself, but because Aves' words had cut through Luke's calm outer demeanor and revealed the intense emotions beneath. Apparently even a non-Force-sensitive could sense a flicker of these emotions because Aves soon stepped aside and directed Luke to Mara's room.

"Mara," he cried, practically leaping the distance between them and wrapping his arms tightly around her. Mara could feel her checks flushing as Aves poked his head in to wink at her before pulling the door shut.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked, releasing Mara from his embrace.

"Sure," she replied. "I'm just fine."

Luke exhaled deeply and Mara could feel the tension draining off him. "Thank the Force," he said, hugging her again.

"Your friends told me what happened. I'm so sorry, Mara."

Mara shrugged, starting to feel trapped. "Everyone fails sometimes," she muttered, resisting the urge to push Luke away. And the urge to collapse against his chest.

"You survived Mara. That's all that matters now."

_Tell Luke…_ Callista's voice was clear in Mara's head.

Now was the time. She would never get a better opening.

"I love you, Mara," Luke continued before she had a chance to speak. "I've known for a while. I've wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to scare you off." Luke paused, clearing trying to gauge Mara's reaction.

_Tell Luke. Tell Luke…_.

_Tell Lucky?_

Mara didn't know what she was going to say until the words left her lips. "I love you too."

There was guilt in the back of her mind, but she let it be pushed beneath the warmth she felt as she kissed Luke's lips.


	9. Part 9

_**Six**__ months later…_

They'd done it. They'd actually managed to pull off a small ceremony. It had been lovely but simple, exactly the wedding they'd wanted.

Mara had even managed to avoid her doubts, her guilt all day. Until she saw him.

Dankin had been doing better lately. She'd even started to believe him when he smiled. Mara had eventually told Luke about Callista's last words. He had known better than to say anything. He had not pretended to know Callista's intent. Instead Luke had quietly held Mara close, until the sun rose. Mara had not told Dankin. She'd never found the right time, nor the right words.

The reception was winding down as Dankin approached. Luke was by her side and squeezed her hand encouragingly. Not knowing what to say, Mara stepped forward and gave Dankin a brief hug. Then she stepped back so Luke could shake his hand.

Somehow it all seemed very final and Mara fought against a flashback to Azterri. "Well, Mara," Dankin said, grasping Mara's hand and looking deeper into her eyes that he had in a long time, "Te lucis valiturus."

"What did you say?" Mara asked, her grip abruptly tightening on Dankin's hand.

Dankin seemed startled be her intensity and tried to back away. Aves was nearby and stepped up defensively beside his friend.

"Mara," Luke said cautiously, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her right wrist, encouraging her to release her grip.

Mara loosened her grip, but was still intent on receiving a response. "Repeat what you just said."

Dankin swallowed uncertainly before carefully saying, "Te lucis valiturus."

"It's an old Chadrian saying," Aves offered. "You say it at weddings and such when you might never see the other person again. It means 'I wish you the best,' 'have a nice life,' something like that."

"That's it," Mara cried. "That's it." Suddenly her legs felt very weak and she grabbed onto Luke. He held her tightly. "That's what she said. Callista's last words."

Callista's last words had not been for Luke or for Lucky. Her last words had been for Mara.

_Te lucis valiturus. _

_I wish you the best._

_**fin**_


End file.
